SOURCE :- SIASAT NEWS
Vantara founder and Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s youngest son, Anant Ambani, has been appointed as Professor of Practice in Sustainability at Newcastle University, raising eyebrows among conservationists and within the university community.
The announcement was made in September. The university stated the 31-year-old was awarded the position for “his work in conservation, biodiversity protection, animal welfare and environmental stewardship” and “significant contributions to advancing a more sustainable future.”
Can name 100 people better qualified than him: Environmentalist
“I must say that it is a rather mystifying choice,” remarked Ramachandra Guha, noted Indian journalist, historian, intellectual and author of several bestsellers, including India After Gandhi.
“I can name at least 50 – perhaps 100 – individuals who are far better qualified to be thus honoured. They include soil scientists, energy scientists, water conservation experts, community forest workers, ecologists, pollution abatement experts etc who have made real and tangible contributions to a more sustainable future for India and Indians,” he was quoted by The Guardian.
Ramachandra Guha is also an ardent environmentalist with a PhD on the social history of forestry. He has authored Environmentalism: A Global History, How Much Should a Person Consume? and Speaking With Nature: The Origins of Indian Environmentalism.
Trouble follows Vantara, but
Vantara was recently in the news for housing two endangered ring-tailed lemurs, allegedly smuggled from the Gazipur Safari Park in Bangladesh.
Several reports in the past have accused Vantara, a 1,400-hectare (3,500-acre) private zoo in Gujarat’s Jamnagar, of having over 1,50,000 animals, including 200 lions, 250 leopards and 900 crocodiles.
Last year, Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung published an investigative report alleging that Vantara was trafficking endangered animals through countries including the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
A Supreme Court of India-appointed probe found “no wrongdoing by Vantara’s operators.” A separate CITES fact-finding mission, however, later reported that some of the permits used for importing animals to the facility were probably forged.
Universities lacking public funding, easy targets for corporates
“I wonder on whose advice Newcastle University has acted, and whether it did due diligence on what has and has not been done in these fields. Its appointment of Mr Ambani is puzzling in the extreme, and is likely to adversely affect the university’s institutional credibility and intellectual standing,” Guha added.
He is not the only voice of dissent. Head of the Newcastle University and College Union branch, Prof Matt Perry, told The Guardian that Anant Ambani’s appointment was strongly objected to by the staff.
Head of the climate, environment and sustainability department at the University of Sussex’s Institute of Development Studies, Prof Lyla Mehta, observed the pattern of universities falling short of public funding and relying on corporates.
“Universities are supposed to be places that question power and hold corporations to account, not give them academic legitimacy,” she noted.
SOURCE : SIASAT
